Name: Flemish Beef Stew with Beer
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 3 h 30 min
Yield: 4 people
Cuisine: Belgium
Ingredients: 100 oz ofbacon (Avoid using bacon bits, as they will fall apart during cooking); 3 onions; 3 shallots; 30 oz ofbutter; 1 lb ofbeef for braising (chuck, shank, cheek, boneless shank... feel free to pick up an assortment—there's something for everyone!); 1 amber beer (not too bitter, even sweet); 3 sunflower oil; 1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, parsley stems, and a celery stalk, which you can tie together); 5 gingerbread (something to cover the top of the casserole dish); 1 white wine vinegar; 1 brown sugar (or brown sugar); 5 Dijon mustard; chef's knife; cast-iron casserole

main courses meat slow cooking slow cooking traditional cuisine

Updated on 20 January 2026 by

toquetoque

10 reviews 4.1 : Very good

Cuisine

Belgium

Level

Easy

Preparation

45 minutes

Cooking

3 hours 30

Here’s the recipe for Flemish beer stew, which my brother and I made for a Christmas dinner. It took quite a bit of effort to prepare this delicious dish, with its mile-long list of ingredients 😅 But the big advantage is that you can prepare it the day before, and this stew will taste even better on the big day!

Before I reveal all the secrets of this iconic dish, a few words of history. Flemish beef stew (or “carbonade” as it’s called in France) is a traditional stew cooked in northern France and Belgium. These carbonnades are made with beef simmered in dark beer, often served with gingerbread and/or mustard. Its name comes from the Latin word "carbo" (coal), because originally, pieces of meat were cooked over embers or in rustic dishes heated over a wood fire. Today, this iconic dish of Flemish cuisine is prized for its sweet-and-salty flavors and caramelized aroma.

In short, carbonade is a bit like the beef bourguignon of the North, where red wine is replaced by beer… The beef simmers gently for several hours (allow at least 3 hours) in an aromatic sauce infused with the typical flavors of Northern Europe.

As a side dish, you can serve this Flemish beef carbonade with beer alongside mashed potatoes or sautéed potatoes.

Check out all the preparation steps in pictures—we’ve put together a real photo and video story just for you. We’ve tried to include as much information as possible about our experience, but feel free to leave us your comments if you try making it yourself!

I hope this recipe inspires you to make this stew at home too. Enjoy! 😀

For

people

Add to shopping list

For the onions with bacon
3.5 oz of bacon Avoid using bacon bits, as they will fall apart during cooking
3 onions
3 shallots
1 ¾ oz of butter

For braised meat
2.2 lb of beef for braising chuck, shank, cheek, boneless shank... feel free to pick up an assortment—there's something for everyone!
1 amber beer not too bitter, even sweet
3 sunflower oil
1 bouquet garni thyme, bay leaf, parsley stems, and a celery stalk, which you can tie together
5 gingerbread something to cover the top of the casserole dish
1 white wine vinegar
1 brown sugar or brown sugar
5 Dijon mustard

1
First step: gather all the ingredients and utensils... It looks so good! 😋
Preparing onions with bacon
- 2
  Peel the onions, remove the green sprouts, and slice them thinly.
  Do the same with the shallots.
- 3
  Cut the bacon into slices about 1 cm
  thick. Sauté it over low heat with the butter in your casserole dish for a few minutes.
- 4
  Add the onions and shallots, and mix well.
  Simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.
  Cover the pot as much as possible so the onions don’t start to brown (very bad for your health—and for the taste of the dish!).
- 5
  When it's done, remove the bacon, shallots, and onions from the pot, but keep the cooking juices at the bottom—you'll need them later...
Brown the beef
- 6
  Cut the beef into pieces.
- 7
  Return the pot to high heat, add the oil to the rendered fat from the bacon, and add the beef pieces to brown them.
  Turn them regularly so that the meat is browned on all sides. Once cooked, set
  the pieces aside in a bowl.
Put everything together and let it simmer...
- 8
  Add the brown sugar to the remaining meat juices in the casserole dish, and reduce the juices by about half over high heat.
- 9
  Reduce the heat, then deglaze the meat juices with the vinegar using a wooden spatula to scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
  Add the meat, followed by the onion and bacon compote. Mix well.
- 10
  Pour the beer into the casserole dish until it covers the remaining ingredients.
  Add the bouquet garni.
- 11
  Spread the mustard on the slices of gingerbread.
- 12
  Cover the contents of the casserole dish with the gingerbread slices, placing them on top of the bouquet garni.
  Cover and simmer over very low heat for at least 3 hours, up to 4 hours.
  After 2 hours of cooking, you can remove the bouquet garni.
- 13
  When the dish is done, the gingerbread should be completely melted, and the meat should fall apart easily with a fork.
  The sauce should be thick and creamy; if it’s still too runny, you can continue cooking it uncovered for a little while longer.
- 14
  Serve the meat piping hot with a little sauce, along with mashed potatoes or sautéed potatoes.

Notes

WHAT TO DRINK WITH THIS FLEMISH BEEF STEW: A fruity, crisp red wine, such as a Pinot Noir from Burgundy or Alsace, or a Belgian beer, especially an abbey or Trappist beer.